First FO of 2013. It even has two sleeves.

Okay, that title makes no sense if you didn’t see my last post, but that’s okay.

I finished my faux/mock wrap McCall’s 5974, “The perfect knit dress”, the other night, following a fun cut and paste with Stitch Witchery after hacking up one sleeve during cutting. It actually came out well, but I’ll probably have to hand wash it forever. I chose view D, but ended up not involving the ties once I realized it wasn’t a true wrap. Plus I needed the extra fabric for sleeve repair. I fashioned a little belt out of the tie fabric, and quite love it.

It really is a perfect knit dress. I literally wore it ALL weekend, from Friday work to my boyfriend’s gig Friday night. Gave it a break Saturday afternoon, but back on it went for a Saturday night gig, where it passed the dancing test. Sunday was lovely and mild, so I put it back on for a photo shoot, followed by an amazing sunny joyride with my sweetie.

It is a great, well-written pattern, almost too detailed for a knit garment. The fitting suggestions for every stage are almost overwhelming. I kept it ultra simple and just stuck with the pattern as originally given. Other than scrapping the ties, I think the only alteration I made to the construction was to gather the top of the skirt, rather than pleat. This fabric is really flimsy, plus I still never got the pleating thing down. I REALLY can’t figure it out in most patterns, and being mostly self-taught I’m not sure when I’ll learn properly. I also ended up making it a bit shorter than the pattern called for, sacrificing a bit of length during the hemming process, again due to the flimsiness of the fabric. I like rockin’ the legs though, so short is fine, and tights help a bit with the cold.

Here’s the sunny outcome. One of the only ways I can survive winter is by accessorizing the heck out of everything. My hat collection is STILL growing. I love this new one. It feels kind of Courreges (I just learned about this designer, and am totally Cuckoo Courreges over the look!). I also had almost forgotten about my huge red mohair-ish scarf, and love it with the new dress. The boots are just about my favorite thing to wear this year, although they’re absurdly high and pointy. I was sinking into the ground during the shoot! They’re Dereon, which is Beyonce’s shoe brand. I had no idea she made shoes when I ordered them on eBay, but I actually have another pair of her shoes now. They’re all sassy.

My honey wanted me to be all rock n roll and pose with the guitar. It does make a nice composition. Plus it held me up in those boots!

A little sans guitar shot…

And sans hat, being girly and twirly…

Just being silly in the sunshine

And I adore this scarf

Wanted to show off my neatto necklace from my Urf Sista, aka my sis-in-law Cynthia. Isn’t she great? (By the way, I call my boyfriend’s family my in-laws because even if he never marries me, they already have. They’re so sweet.)

Close up of new hat, awesome necklace by my sis-in-law, with funny fuzzy scarf. Burts Bees Lip Shimmer in Merlot

It IS a fun outfit, but FO is just a finished object, as opposed to the dreaded UnFinishedObjects that we all have. I’ve just been referring to finished objects a lot lately because I’m behind on my blogging and have a bunch to share when I get my FOs photographed. Take care!